I readily admit that I don't do a good job on keeping tabs on what is the latest, or greatest "thing" going on. But on occasion, I will read something that will grab my attention. This past Friday, I was "surfing along", when I decided to check out The Readers Food and Drink section, and lo' and behold, Ed Bedford's column was on a stand selling live uni at the Saturday Little Italy Mercato. Way to go Ed….….
So this morning I headed over to Little Italy, found parking with no problem, and walked a block over to the Mercato. Traffic, both the four wheeled and two legged kind was very light, and right at the South end of the Market, I saw the booth for San Diego Kelpbed Products.
And yes, there it was…….wriggling quills moving with slow, pulsing, almost mechanical smoothness. Heidi explained that these were Red Sea Urchin, and than raised her hands showing me the red pigmentation that the urchin gave off.
The booth is manned by Heidi and her daughter Rosemary. Heidi is treasure trove of information on Sea Urchin. Stuff like sea urchins can live a very long life(100 + years), and can keep reproducing until they are very old. As such, harvesting these keeps the population in check, which in turn does our Kelp Beds a favor. And then the magic words were spoken, "would you like a taste?" Are you kidding me????
Rosemary set to work, and had a much too easy time cracking and cleaning the uni……she cracked with the skill derived from tons of practice.
These 'nads had a bright almost reddish-orange color, with a nice, mild sweetness, and rich, briney flavor…..call it the kiss of the ocean if you desire. The flesh was creamy without disintegrating, and the fragrance hinted of the sea. And at four bucks a pop, I bought two…….
When I arrived home, I placed my uni in some old pasta bowls I had and put them in the fridge.
I had been told that the uni would live two to three days in my fridge. You can tell they're alive by touching them……the spines will move. Of course, every half hour or so, I'd open the fridge, and pet my uni……
After completing all of my chores, I finally set out to work on my urchin. I have had more than my share of uni, but I had never cracked a large one myself. Back home in Hawaii, I've eaten smaller seas urchin (called `ina ), but had not really eaten the bigger "wana" (vana). After watching Rosemary, I was sure that I could do at least, a third rate job. Rosemary worked with a small slotted spoon and a pair of 
kitchen shears. Unlike what one of my friends say….you don't need a "special tool" to remove the gonads from the urchins. Though I wish I had a small slotted spoon…..
Actually, cracking it was easy….first you remove it's "beak". I used my pairing knife to cut around the "mouth". Someone once told me that the Old Hawaiians would place salt around, and in the mouth of the "Wana", and let it sit overnight. Cracks would then form around the mouth, making the uni easy to crack. I was much too impatient to even think about trying this.
Mouth removed, the uni looked like this:
I turned the uni over and drained the kelp(and other stuff) speckled seawater into the sink. I than 
found two of the seams, and cut along them, splitting the uni in half. I than scooped out the orange 'nads, and placed them in a bowl of clean water. I carefully scraped all of the detritus off them. I moved the cleaned uni pieces into another bowl of clean water, just to make sure I got everything off. I dried the uni briefly on paper towels, and ate them up…..plain…..it was excellent. I won't win for style or presentation points, you can pay your extra twenty bucks for that……
As I was washing the red pigment off my fingers….I wondered why I hadn't done this before. Perhaps it was the $4 a piece price……or maybe just watching the ease with which Rosemary went about cleaning the uni…..or maybe it was just the right time.
Funny thing was, the other uni, which I had this evening was even better…the flesh was that reddish-orange hue….and it was just sublime. Folks say that San Diego has some of the best Uni in the world…..so why don't you try it out, and form your own opinion.
And while you're at it, enjoy the Little Italy Mercato, on Saturdays between 9am and 130pm, located on Date Street, between Kettner and Union.
I picked out some other stuff as well……
Using our best Spanglish (a pretty feeble excuse for communication) and a lot of pointing at the menu, we were able to order. We started with margaritas on the rocks:
Along with the drinks, arrived some rather ordinary yellow cheese spread thing and some rather good crackers:
Both Tina and I preferred dipping the crackers into the complex and spicy table salsa:
For our first course, we decided on steamed clams. They arrived dripping in butter on top of some grains of rice on a large plate. This was a generous portion and the clams were fresh and balanced between tender and chewy:
While not the best rendition of steamed clams that I have ever had (I would've liked a little garlic), they were quite serviceable and their flavor was enhanced by squeezes of lime juice:
Along with the clams came our bottle of L.A. Cetto chenin blanc. This dry and fruity white wine from the Guadalupe Valley, which we chose from the modest list of about a dozen Mexican wines, paired nicely with our meal:
We then each had a marlin taco. While not much resembling the smoked marlin tacos at 
This taco was very good, but not "in your face" powerful. What I mean is that the flavor was complex, multilayered, and subtle, adjectives that I do not often use when describing Mexican food. The next time I have this, and I sure hope there is a next time, I will simply spoon salsa all over the taco and eat it as if it were a mini marlin quesadilla.
The shrimp were of excellent size and quality and perfectly cooked, and the sauce was a wonderful complement to them. The main courses were accompanied by okay coleslaw and a tasty truncated cone of buttery rice. We also received a basket of toasty bread, which was great dipped into the that great creamy chipotle sauce:
I was very impressed by both the look and the taste of this dish. Sometimes Veracruz sauces can be much like an Italian pasta sauce, with green peppers, olives, and capers in a thick tomato sauce. At Mr. Choby's, the chef had decided to present the mariscos integrated with an assortment of vegetables. The fish fillet pieces were fresh and tender as was the octopus, and the shrimp, while smaller than Tina's, were also very good. Fresh tomatoes, seafood juices, and olive oil were the basis of the brothy sauce. Even with the frozen peas and carrots, the collection of vegetables (in particular the seeded and deveined jalapeno slices) was excellent and provided color balance and textual variation as well as a variety of tastes. The jalapeno flavor, in particular, added a nice touch of picante spice and capsicum flavor without overwhelming the other ingredients:
We were happy. Our mouths were happy. And when we got the check, our pocketbooks were not too unhappy:
